After driving just 10km from Nyalam we stopped and walked down the hill to tour the Pelgyeling Gompa on a terrace overlooking the river. A young monk showed us around the monastery that was rebuilt in the mid 1980s after the Chinese destroyed it in 1966. We walked into the almost completely dark cave where the poet-lama Milarepa (1040-1123) spent many years of his life meditating in his thin cotton robes. Several young children from the local village ran to see what was going on, and were warmly received by both Shane and Jan.